WWE legend on Eddie Guerrero's "greatest gift" as a wrestler
Matt Hardy recently reflected on his experiences working with Eddie Guerrero in WWE.
According to Cagematch.net, the two men shared the ring 21 times between April 2000 and September 2003. Their most memorable match arguably took place on the April 26, 2001, episode of SmackDown when Hardy defeated Guerrero for the European Championship.
Speaking on “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” podcast, the AEW star claimed nobody could read audience reactions better than Guerrero.
“Eddie is up there,” Hardy said. “Eddie’s greatest gift, I think, was just reading the crowd, as far as I’d never been in the ring with someone who was more talented at reading a crowd and changing directions on the fly because of how the crowd reacts. I feel like that was Eddie’s biggest gift. He just had such a great ear.” [54:05-54:23]
Guerrero was widely viewed as one of the best wrestlers in the world. The former WWE Champion passed away on November 13, 2005, due to acute heart failure. The following year, he was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Matt Hardy reflects on how much he trusted Eddie Guerrero
It was 16 years ago today that we lost a great man & phenomenal pro wrestler, my friend, Eddie Guerrero. I’ll never forget how amazing Eddie was & how much he was loved by everyone. Miss you, EG! https://t.co/Fugq6L566i
The WWE legends’ first match against each other occurred on the April 17, 2000, episode of RAW. Matt Hardy teamed up with his brother Jeff to defeat Eddie Guerrero and Essa Rios in a tag team match that lasted approximately five minutes.
Due to Guerrero’s vast wrestling experience, Hardy was willing to listen to instructions from the former WCW star during matches.
“I feel like Eddie would incorporate some lucha stuff in there, which was fun sometimes,” Hardy added. “Sometimes I may have felt like, ‘Oh, well, I might do this as a character here, or do that,’ but Eddie was the guy with the seniority, and I trust him and I would always listen to him and I always enjoyed working with him.” [55:02-55:18]
The two men also feuded over the United States Championship in 2003. The feud led to Guerrero retaining the title against Hardy on the October 2, 2003, episode of SmackDown.
Please credit “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.